History of Faculty Women's Club 1941
The history of this club I find hard to write:
I pen it by day, and erase it by night.
But when the minutes and records I rehearse
I decided, that by writing it all in verse
I can take liberties with facts and time,
For it much more important to make it rhyme.
So this dissertation turns out to be
A clutter of nonsense, not history.
Officially, we began in twenty-nine,
But our actual beginnings were before that time
When Mrs. Hotchkiss, the president's spouse,
Requested the "Faculty Ladies" to meet at her house.
They met, and they met, and they met again
Till a regular monthly habit began.
A few laughingly dubbed us, "The Campus Cats".
To each meeting, each of us took two bits,
(Some found it cheaper to stay at home with the kids).
The reason for choosing the first Monday to gather
Was because of its closeness to the pay check of father.
Quarters were small change when the check was first cashed
But their value increased as the days swiftly passed.
The bank balance this way was none too stable
So yearly dues of $2.00 were then made payable.
The attendance of member increase from that day
It was as cheap now to go as to stay away.
One dollar now is our yearly due
It is hard to part with than was the two.
Our activities have always been varied, substantial,
Many ties we've given aid, financial.
To the girl scouts, library, the Good Will Farm,
To many we've given not a hand but an arm.
We've bought milk for a family, glasses for a child;
Helped to keep the Salvation Army from going wild.
We paid the light bill of a family in need;
Bought shoes for children, yes indeed!
Several student were helped in a number of ways.
We pulled the club room kitchen out of its maze.
Our dormitory donation of one hundred dollars
Should help to make comfortable, many scholars.
Layettes unnumbered, were made with skill
By the charity committee, ladies all of good will.
How many diapers did the charity make?
Well, at least enough to sop up the lake!
Our bounty, at first, was flung without heed
To those round about us who seemed in great need.
But now our help is confined to the college,
And to student who need funds in their quest for knowledge.
Our fund raising projects have been many,
Among them, the cook book was as good as any.
It takes a good cook to use that book! Ha me!
The errors outnumber the corrections, you see.
Under Mrs. Swenson's talent and gumption,
We produced some fine plays for public consumption.
To one meeting each spring during the Hotchkiss regime
We took our young children to play on the green.
We "oh-ed" at the oldest and "ah-ed" an the newest,
Thinking the while that our own was the cutest.
For the first five years, our meeting place
Was the Hotchkiss home, with plenty of space.
And for a while we met here and there
At the larger homes, which had room to spare.
Then on February seventh in thirty-eight,
And for that time on right up to this date,
We've met in the Club Rooms where, without any compunctions
We've given teas, and parties, and some noisy functions.
We've acquired the best room the college boasts,
Grab the choicest of hooks for our wraps and coats.
The faculty members in this building
Used to dread our Monday, with the ladies jibbering.
Now, they open their doors, for fear they might miss
A choice bit of news, or a gossipy hiss!
Some of our member who have time to read
Meet every two weeks with a reader to lead.
The "Book Study Club" is what they call it.
I doubt that actual study ever befalls it
The read fiction nonfiction, something racy, I'll bet,
While the rest of us just read the Mining Gazette.
Since we crossed the campus with venturesome toe,
It has not been entirely a masculine show.
In nineteen twenty-seven, Ella Wood came to town,
Sign up with the college in cap and gown.
The students' noses went up with a jerk,
"Cripes! Do we now have to be taught by a skirt?"
The one fearless girl, with learning in view
Said, "Those gals go away with it, why can't I too?"
In nineteen twenty-nine, she attended her goal,
Faced the score of the boys, had the nerve to enroll.
So the co-eds appeared, joined the scholastic grind,
Often snatching the honors at commencement time.
So this institution, once staffed by men
And attended by boys very masculine,
Now has two teachers with bobbed hair and waves
And seventeen coeds, willing to work like slaves.
This campus, once peopled by men - not one girl -
Has now taken to lipstick, and a permanent curl.
The halls once were filled with just baritone mutterings,
Hearty guffaws, and some uncouth utterings.
Now, some of the echoes have reached higher planes
Since the halls, once a month, swarm with faculty dames.
The feminine element as the years roll past
Seems to increase, and is growing fast.
Your don't suppose, that by any wild chance
We will ever climb into the Faculty pants?
That things will ever come to such a pass
That the men will have tea, while we teach the class?
We could teach the students a thing or two,
But could the men accomplish the things that we do?
Could they knit or tat without too man mistakes?
Could they make the wee shirties that the charity makes?
A glimpse at such tumult fills us with laughter
We had best stay put, both now and hereafter.
We belong where we are, in the Club Room of the College,
Let the men have the classroom, and dole out the knowledge.
Mrs. C. H. Knaebel
February 3, 1941